Too Young To Die
by Atemusluckygal
Summary: Rated T for morbidity. Tea rejects his love, only to find that a tragedy had struck over the weekend. And yet, despite what has happened, she could not bring herself to stop thinking about the man who DID have her heart... Character death. OC. YamixTea.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!.**

**Hello again, it's been so long.**

**My account has been sadly neglected, as I've been dealing with a ton of drama, disastrous relationship problems, schoolwork stress, music-related catastrophes, and persistent writer's block.**

**To be honest, I don't expect this to be my best work. It is morbid, yes, and it involves death and sadness and all that other good stuff. But it does have a comforting ending, if that redeems it any. And, as always, it is YamixTea.**

**I guess my goal is to be a well-known Revolutionshipping author on fanfiction. Like, my username, Atemusluckygal, associated with the gigantic archive of (dare I say) -decent- Yami/Pharaoh/AtemxTea stories. I dunno, but I hope it will lead to that, someday. In the meantime, I will just write what is on my mind.**

**Also, in the meantime, if you get bored waiting for my next chapter, or just bored in general - check out my new forum. For revolutionshippahs!**

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**Chapter 1**

_Shit, _thought Tea, as heavy rain suddenly began to pour.

_At least now it's harder to tell that I've been crying,_ she mused, as tears continued to fall down her face and mix with the rain drops. _Not like anyone would be out here, anyway._

Tea wasn't sure how she could be so unlucky at a time like this; amidst all her inner turmoil, she somehow managed to lock herself out of her own house, just in time for Domino's biggest torrential downpour of the season. In an attempt to get some fresh air after a night and a half of crying, she had nowhere to go but the harsh, wet, drastically cold outdoors in the early hours of the morning. After several loud, painful knocks on the door got no response from her parents, she had no idea what to do but to continue in her grieving–her mourning, in an environment that somewhat matched the interiors of her heart.

She didn't want it this way. There was no way in all that is holy that she wanted this to happen. Jared Grayson was a good man. He was a smart, attractive, hard-working kid that deserved to have a solid relationship with the girl of his dreams. A girl that he would love, and who would return his feelings just as passionately.

Tea Gardner just wished, with all of her pure heart and soul, that it didn't have to be her.

Of all the girls in Domino High–the pretty, smart, social girls who would have given a left limb to go on one date with Jared, Tea was the one that undoubtedly held his heart. The only problem was, however, that Tea did not requite his love. Unbeknownst to Jared at the time, Tea's heart indeed belonged to another...

She figured, if she had at least let him down more gently, or even gone on one date with the guy, then maybe...

..._maybe_ he wouldn't have shot himself.

He didn't exactly leave a suicide note, but she knew it was because of her. Everyone knew. The news was devastating as it was shocking; even the English instructor shed a few tears as she delivered the sudden death of Jared Grayson the morning before. Almost everyone in the class was somehow involved with him–his fellow club member, personal friend, gym buddy, or various other activities shared. Tea herself met him in this very English course, which now stretched out into a long, slow, painful drag.

The worst part was that Tea knew, in her heart, that it was _her_ fault that Jared was taken away from everyone; no, he took _himself_ away from everyone. He simply could not handle her rejection, no matter how diplomatic she intended to be about it. She was the reason he has found nothing else to live for.

She felt that her life was traumatized, because she now had to live with that fact for the rest of her life. She was too young to experience such a distressing tragedy. Everyone is too young to have to go through that. But now, she has to live with the fact that she was a deciding factor on a person's life or death–someone who was much too young and gifted to die.

"_Hey, Tea!"_

_Hmm... she knew that voice: a mature, deep, masculine voice that seemed to warm her from the inside out. It definitely wasn't Yugi._

_The pharaoh? What was he doing at school?_

"_Hey Yami," she replied. "What happened to Yugi?"_

"_He was feeling a bit tired this morning; his grandfather had him run the shop late last night. I told him he could get some rest while I–"_

"_Oy, Tea!" a third voice interrupted. She knew this voice, too._

"_Oh, hey Jared." She gave him a half smile and averted direct eye contact with him._

"_Could we...?" he began, pointing a thumb over his shoulder. Tea briefly glanced at Yami, who in turn gave a small nod of understanding. She gave him an apprehensive smile as she turned and joined Jared at his locker nearby._

_This wasn't, by far, the first of his attempts._

"_I wanted to let you know something..."_

_Tea could _feel_ Yami's eyes watching them curiously, though he was out of earshot._

"_I really, really feel that we can connect with each other, and I have so much to offer you. You're beautiful, smart, and an exceptionally talented dancer...you're just a wonderful person overall..."_

Tea continued to weep outside her house, in the pouring rain, not waiting for anything or anyone. By now, her hair, skin, and pajamas were completely soaked. Maybe, if she were lucky, she would get hypothermia, and die too. But no, it wasn't cold enough yet.

"_Jared, please try to understand...you're a great guy but, I don't like you this way, and I don't think I ever could... we can still be friends..."_

And yet, despite the tragic situation regarding Jared, Tea could not bring herself to stop thinking about the man that _did_ have her heart, the one she thought of instead of Jared–the man of whom Jared had suspected near the end.

_Tea turned her head slightly, seeing out of the corner of her eye that the Pharaoh was still standing there, waiting patiently._

"_You like that Yugi kid, don't you?"_

"_No, Jared, you don't understand..." It was only half true._

"_Don't lie to me Tea," Jared whispered through clenched teeth. Tea immediately tensed and was genuinely frightened that he was going to do something drastic. "You love him–"_

"_Jared..."_

"–_and I'm just not good enough for you."_

"_No..."_

_He looked away, a pained expression on his face. It broke her heart. She didn't want to hurt anybody like this._

"_I see." He paused for a moment._

"_Then I hope you find happiness in one's arms, even if they are not mine."_

_And with those final words she had ever heard from Jared again, he gently closed his locker, and walked away, sulking in a very unlike-Jared manner._

_And, above all the dissonance, the bell had decided to ring, signaling the end of the nutrition break._

_At least it was Friday._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_"Hello class."_

This is strange, _Tea thought, as she observed her teacher's strange behavior and the uncharacteristically dreary expression on her face._ Also, where is Jared? He's never been absent before. I hope he's alright...

_"I'm very heartbroken to be the one to inform you the tragedy that has affected us all... however it is my duty to inform you that Mr. Jared Grayson had passed away early this morning."_

_Tea felt like her heart had stopped right there on the spot._

_Nobody reacted for a few seconds, in awe at the sudden news that their usually-cheerful English instructor has brought them. It was no secret that Jared was one of her favorite students in the whole school._

_"All I know about the incident is that he stole his dad's .45 and shot himself in the head in his bathroom, this morning at around 4am." She sighed. "That is all I know, I'm afraid."_

_After a few more seconds of uncomfortable silence, she sighed again. "I had a pop quiz on the Elizabethan era planned for you today, but I think it is best if we delay it until next week. Let's take it easy today." Her face continued to fall as she spoke. The saddened English teacher trudged to her desk, having nothing else to present to the class._

_The class broke out in murmurs and side conversations, as Tea remained silent in her seat. She found herself unable to look at the English teacher any longer, but rather stare at her own desk, her eyes idly tracing the lines of the smooth oak streaking across. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a group of Jared's closest friends looking at her; she recognized them as the two guys and two girls he usually drives to school. Tea couldn't tell if they were giving her snide looks, nor did she want to know. However she was aware that she may have been the subject of many of their conversations with Jared. As they continued to whisper to each other while watching her, Tea urgently began to wish that the floor would give out from beneath her and she could disappear–at least be anywhere,_ anywhere_ but here._

Rainwater had accumulated into large puddles, small rivers running down the gutters, and yet more continued to fall on the otherwise-peaceful town of Domino. Drops descended to the earth in a quicker tempo, and still there seemed no sign of entry into the Gardner home. Tea hugged her arms tighter to keep warm in the drastically-dropping temperatures.

"Tea?"

_Why did the day have to crawl the way it did? The minute hand seemed to enjoy taking its sweet time reaching the top of the clock, tormenting Tea by keeping her in this everlasting agony, this prison of despair, lost in the sea of Jared's mourning peers. She subtly packed her things, if nothing else, just to keep her mind busy and drag her anxious gaze from the sluggish classroom clock. Thankfully, the bell finally rung as she was zipping up her schoolbag._

"Tea, is that you?"

_"Hey Tea!" called a familiar voice, accompanied by bickering from two others. Tea knew who they were right away; despite them being her best friends (and possibly some of the few people in the school who would greet her in such a friendly manner at this point), she could not bring herself to return Yami's greeting, or even look up from the ground beneath and around her feet. Instead, reasoning with herself that she could explain everything later, she quickened her pace until she was around the corner, and out of sight._

Everything felt so surreal, as if everything around Tea had lost its definition, and was beginning to nonsensically meander about in an unbalanced world. In fact, she could swear she heard someone's voice, lost in the rain, calling out to her, shouting her name...

Perhaps she was just being delusional. No one else would be out here at this time, in this dreadful weather.

_"Whadd'ya think is up with her Joey?"_

_"No idea Big T, but it probably has something to do with Grayson's death."_

_"Might be. What about you, Yami?"_

_But the former pharaoh was so perplexed at the situation as well, he failed to notice that he was indeed being addressed by his two companions, as he continued to stare after where Tea had disappeared without an explanation or acknowledgement._

_"Yami? You there man?"_

_Finally, Yami seemed to snap awake from his trance, as he turned to face Joey and Tristan with worried eyes._

_"Sorry; I was just startled at Tea's strange behavior. I think Jared's passing may have affected her greatly."_

_"Well I don't blame her," Joey said, mirroring Yami's concerned expression. "I mean, he was totally in love with her."_

_Yami furrowed his brow. He had indeed detected hints of Jared's growing interest in Tea, and in turn he did his best to stay at a distance. Though now his suspicions were confirmed, he sorely wished he'd spoken to her about it before Jared's suicide. Perhaps, if Tea knew his true feelings for her..._

Perhaps, if Yami knew her true feelings for him... it would have still been painful for Jared, but it was unlikely that it would lead to this degree of despair. Of course, for that theory to be valid, Yami would have to return her affections, and that was close to impossible...

"Tea, what are you doing out here in the rain?"

Someone was speaking to her, Tea was almost certain. But all she could see and here were the dense, misty fog that roamed her ankles and the rapid tapping of the rainstorm. It may have been her father, at last discovering his daughter's ill fate being disbanded in the harsh outdoors, as she again realized the absurdity of being out in the cold and rain this long...

Tea suddenly felt two strong hands at her shoulders, and figured that it was her dad trying to get her to come inside. She unfolded her arms and took hold of his, ready to accept her father's sympathetic embrace as she had always as a child, when she looked up and met a pair of violet eyes staring right back at her.

Her father had blue eyes.

"Yugi...?"

No, it wasn't Yugi; this violet-eyed figure was nearly her height, and she promptly reminded herself the 6 inches or so she had on him. If this wasn't Yugi, then it had to be...

"...Yami?"

It was indeed the young former ruler of Egypt standing in front of her, holding her, with a strange, somewhat horrified expression on his face. She recognized the sharpness of his eyes now, giving him a more mature appearance than the rounded, child-like eyes of Yugi's.

"Are you okay?" he asked, nearly shouted, because the rain was almost loud enough to drown out his voice.*

"What are you doing out here?" she replied, remembering the approximate time it was.

"I came to see if you were okay!"

This puzzled Tea. "How did you know I was out here?"

Yami let out a sharp breath of mirth at the silly question. "Because..." he paused, giving her a look that plainly asked her why she doubted his abilities. "...because I just knew. I could sense your distress, your turmoil, and I knew if there was something I could do, I needed to find you to remedy the ache in your heart."

Tea's heart did a small flip of joy. In fact, she wondered why she spent so much time feeling miserable, until...

There was nothing stopping the fresh new wave of tears at this point, now that there was an available shoulder to cry upon. Tea couldn't help but let the overbearing sadness conquer her pride in front of the man she loved, as the familiar face of guilt flooded her mind once again, provoking even more warm tears to fall and mix with the cold rain and soaked cloth of Yami's t-shirt. His arms wrapped tightly around her, securing her, rubbing her back with his hand. Both teenagers were completely soaked to the bone; nevertheless, it was quite comforting to Tea having such warmth surround her.

"This is my fault!" she shouted in his shoulder. "It's my fault Jared's dead! I feel so worthless!"

With those words said and lost in the rain, Yami proceeded to hug her tighter still. The two stayed in the tight embrace for a few minutes when Yami pulled back, only for his hands to travel down her arms, from her shoulders to her elbows, so he could lock eye contact with her.

"Tea, there's something I have to tell you."

"What is it?"

Yami suddenly became startled, as if he was caught off guard, or perhaps he suddenly forgot how he was going to verbalize what he wanted to say to her.

"It's...not your fault..."

As much as he didn't want to spoil the tender, caring moment between them, he felt compelled to just...

Before he could stop himself, he removed his hands from her elbows, bought them up to her face to cup her chin delicately, and kissed her.

And despite the fact that this was the very circumstance that led Jared to taking his own life, she found that she could not help but return it, with all the love and sincerity that she could not give to Jared.

Just when Tea thought she had no more tears to shed, water continued to spill from her eyes, though they were tears of joy. She realized then and there that nothing she could have done could have stopped Jared from his destiny, and that Tea was destined to be with no other but Yami, her pharaoh, her king. Violet and cerulean danced and twirled as their eyes locked.

"Just know that I love you, Tea, from the bottom of my heart and soul, I love you."

"I love you too Yami, more than you could ever know."

And so their lips collided with each other again, their tongues doing their own kind of dance–a dance of love, passion, and trust.

"Come, let's get you out of the rain."

THE END

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Oh god, this was pretty bad. Sorry! I just had to finish it. Oh my.

Just to make myself feel better, I have to brag about how I typed this chapter from beginning to end on my iPod Touch. Boom.


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